With a major investment in carp control by the Australian Government, it is an opportune time to enhance public awareness of the issue and create a social licence to operate.
While it is easily assumed that everyone knows that European carp are a problem for our waterways, there can still be opposition against their control due to a lack of understanding regarding what their current impact is, what our waterways used to be like prior to Carp establishing and what will be the impact if we do nothing.
There is an urgent need to enhance the public awareness and understanding of what our waterways could be if carp were better controlled and what our waterways were like prior to carp.
This project collected a series of short stories from Australians who remember what life was like BC or before carp.
Completed
This project had three main objectives:
1. Awareness raising around the issue of carp and the need for carp control
2. Enhancing traffic to the NCCP website through the creation of a blog series
3. Enhancing traffic to the NCCP Facebook page through the use of compelling and fresh stories
Dr Ian McDonald is a science communication professional who has a strong background in research, education and community engagement.
In his role as Communications Manager for Centre for Invasive Species Solutions he leads the implementation of the centre’s communications strategy to promote a diverse array of research projects. He has also coordinated the roll-out of major national pest animal campaigns and programs, and led the upgrade project of the PestSmart and WeedsAustralia websites.
Ian has previously worked for national organisations such as the CSIRO, ANU, Alzheimer’s Australia and the Invasive Animals CRC.
Ian also holds an honorary academic position of Adjunct Associate Professor through the University of Canberra’s Science and Technology Faculty.
Qualifications:
This project was funded through the Australian Government’s National Carp Control Plan funding initiative.
The project has delivered a series of 12 short stories from Australians who remember a life before carp (the stories include a blog, a video and an image). These will be released through the National Carp Control Plan over time.
The final project report was published here